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officer

of·fi·cer/ˈɔ.fɪ.sɚ/noun, verb

officer is spelled O-F-F-I-C-E-R: 7 letters and 3 syllables (of·fi·cer). It appears 107 times per million words in written English, the 996th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, officer means “One who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization, especially in military, police or government organizations” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of officer is officers.

How many letters and syllables are in officer?

Letters7: O-F-F-I-C-E-R
Syllables3: of·fi·cer
In writing107 times per million words; the 996th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is officer?

Officer appears 107 times per million words in written English, the 996th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce officer?

  • UK /ˈɒf.ɪ.sə/
  • /ˈɒf.ə.sə/
  • US /ˈɔ.fɪ.sɚ/

Officer has 3 syllables, split of·fi·cer in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-officer.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-officer.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of officer

  • officers plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • officah
  • officuh
  • officering participle, present
  • officered participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does officer mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    One who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization, especially in military, police or government organizations.

  2. 2

    A respectful term of address for an officer, especially a police officer.

  3. 3

    One who holds a public office.

  4. 4

    An agent or servant imparted with the ability, to some degree, to act on initiative.

  5. 5

    colloquialA commissioned officer.

verb

  1. 1

    To supply with officers.

  2. 2

    To command as or like an officer.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you abbreviate officer?

Wiktionary records 2 abbreviations of officer: OFC, ofcr.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Officer in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchfonctionnaire, officier (one who has a position of authority in a…), officière (contraction of the term "commissioned officer")
GermanFunktionär, Funktionärin (one who has a position of authority in a…), Offizier, Offizierin (contraction of the term "commissioned officer"), Beamter, Beamtin (one who holds a public office)
Portugueseoficial, comandante, agente (one who has a position of authority in a…), executor (contraction of the term "commissioned officer"), funcionário público (one who holds a public office)
Spanishoficial (one who has a position of authority in a…), comisario (a respectful term of address for an officer…)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does officer come from?

From Middle English officer, from Anglo-Norman officer, officier, from Old French officer, Late Latin officiarius (“official”), from Latin officium (“office”) + -ārius (“-er”). By surface analysis, office + -er.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

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